Soup Keeps

Last week we meet two other couples, all long-time friends, for supper at a local restaurant. We chatted, viewed the menu and placed our orders; none folks ordered an appetizer. We had plenty to share with you, when we had not seen 1 another for some time – news about families, vacations, as well as a little catching up on other friends (OK, it had been gossip) who had been not there.

Then one of people remarked that it gave the look of we were waiting a very long time for our meals and i was starting to get hungry. A couple moments later, the server came and told us how the kitchen staff was running behind and our dinner was delayed, “but, she would definitely serve us a bowl of soup ‘on the house’ to take pleasure from while we had been waiting.” The glasses of soup were delivered as well as more bread. The soup was delicious, and our hunger subsided each of us continued our experiencing and enjoying the company of old friends.

Conversation across the table continued, however the topic was that there’s a right way and also a wrong method to handle a prospective customer dissatisfaction snafu with the food prep and which they had handled it the best way… bravo!

They had three options, one terrible, one neutral, and something that would ensure attracting great “word of mouth advertising” and repeat customers. The terrible option was they could have ignored the problem, and that we probably would have grumbled about “slow service.” The neutral option was that they can could have told us in regards to the problem and “thank you to your patience.” But they select the best possible result and exceeded our expectations. They kept the hungry beast satisfied and can have six people speaking with their friends around the wonderful, thoughtful service and dining experience.

We are very mindful that, as much when we want our businesses to always satisfy (over-satisfy) our customers, sometimes things be fallible. Sometimes it’s our fault, sometimes the specific situation is beyond our control, however the customer doesn’t worry about that. They, very rightly, value their own satisfaction. But the way we work to rectify the specific situation is the true issue.

Just as our example of the restaurant above illustrates, we’ve three options when things become a mistake. A business that plans on growing should satisfy customers, regardless if things are not going perfectly, as well as the actions they decide on to delight as opposed to disappoint are critical… and I like my soup served hot!